Panama Canal: The Big Dig of Central America
By: Mary Reed first published in
2006 in Construction Equipment Guide
It cost the U.S. $375 million,
thousands of lives, a movement for national independence — and a Nicaraguan
postage stamp — to take over and finish construction of the Panama Canal,
rightly chosen in 1996 by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) as one
of the engineering wonders of the world.
And now, Panama is gearing up for
the largest modernization plan in its 92-year history. Voters in October
approved a $5.25 billion expansion of the canal that will include a third set
of locks on the Atlantic and Pacific sides to handle the world’s largest ships.
Construction will begin in 2007 and
is expected to last eight years.
A canal was first conceived in the
early 16th century by King Charles V of Spain, who ordered the governor of the
region of Panama to survey a route following the Chagres River to the Pacific.
This was the first survey for a proposed ship canal through Panama, and more or
less followed the course of the present Panama Canal.
The desire to build such a canal
gained additional impetus during the 1848 Gold Rush, when prospectors could
either sail around Cape Horn, cross the Great Plains, or journey across the
isthmus by foot or canoe and then take ship north from the Pacific coast. The
first interoceanic railroad in the world was constructed on the isthmus in 1855
but the opening of a canal would mean travelers sailing from, as an example,
San Francisco to New York went from a journey of 14,000 mi. (22,500 km) around
Cape Horn at the bottom of the continent to one of a mere 6,000 mi.
(9,500 km).
The United States had long been
interested in the possibility of building a canal and in the latter half of the
1890s set up two Canal Commissions to look into the question of the best route.
Both recommended running the canal through Nicaragua.
The French, however, had already
begun the endeavor and were continuing with the task of constructing a canal
located in Panama. The Compagnie Universelle du Canal Interoceanique had been
granted a concession to do so in 1878 and had been at work on it since 1881.
Headed by Count Ferdinand de Lesseps, world famous for building the Suez Canal,
the company planned a sea-level canal, which it estimated would take 12 years
to build at a cost of approximately $l30 million.
Tens of thousands flocked to invest
in the project, but in late 1889 the company was declared bankrupt, defeated by
months of tropical weather whose torrential rain caused constant mud and rock
slides, disease-carrying mosquitoes, deadly snakes, inadequate equipment and
management, and a work site situated in dense jungle spread out over
mountainous terrain.
Undaunted by this spectacular
although understandable failure, another French company — Company Nouvelle du
Canal de Panama — was started up in l894 and took over the job. However, it too
was unable to complete the canal and its assets, rights, and equipment were
therefore offered for sale.
A Volcano Sways Voting
Although both Canal Commissions had
recommended Nicaragua as the best place to build a canal, the engineers
consulted were in favor of Panama, David McCullough wrote in “The Path Between
The Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal 1870-1914.”
There were a number of reasons to
choose Panama. Among them were the canal would be shorter by more than 100 mi.
(161 km), the proposed Panamanian route already possessed a railroad, and
overall running costs would be lower.
Efforts to convince American
legislators that Panama was a better choice were aided by two investors in the
French company, Philippe Bunau-Varilla and William Cromwell. They mounted an
effort to swing the vote to Panama, which would benefit them and other
stockholders if the bankrupt company in which they held shares was sold to the
United States. To this end they lectured, issued pamphlets, and purchased
numerous advertisements in various publications, all pointing out the benefits
of building the canal in Panama as opposed to Nicaragua — and in particular
stressing the suggested canal site in the latter was only 20 mi. (32 km) from
an active volcano.
The question was debated during the
1902 legislative session. When the matter came up for voting in the Senate,
Bunau-Varilla and Cromwell carried out a masterly piece of persuasion by
sending every senator a Nicaraguan stamp featuring the volcano in full
eruption.
The legislature chose Panama as the
site of the proposed canal, although the vote was very close, and President
Theodore Roosevelt signed the Panama Canal Act into law on June 28, 1902.
The Act authorized Roosevelt to
acquire not only all rights and property of every kind, “real, personal, and
mixed,” and all other assets possessed by the French company, but also the
necessary strip of land from Colombia, there to exercise “the right to use and
dispose of the waters thereon, and to excavate, construct, and to perpetually
maintain, operate, and protect thereon a canal.”
There is no doubt Roosevelt viewed
the canal as being of prime importance, having declared in his December 1901
State of the Union address that “No single great material work which remains to
be undertaken on this continent is of such consequence to the American people
as the building of a canal across the Isthmus connecting North and South
America.”
It appears his views were heavily
influenced by a book written by Alfred Thayer Mahan, U.S. naval officer and
scholar. This book, “The Influence of Sea Power Upon History,” was published in
1890 and advanced the theory that national and commercial supremacy were
directly related to control of the sea. This point of view was important in the
drive for construction of the Panama Canal.
Panama Gains Independence
Even so, the project was not set for
plain sailing since before construction could begin, the United States had to
negotiate a treaty with Colombia, which then controlled Panama. Despite a very
generous offer — $l0 million to be paid immediately, followed by $250,000 each
year of a century-long lease for 6 mi. (10 km) of land on each side of the canal
— the Colombian government turned it down. It was a time for bold action.
Panama rose up and demanded its
independence. The USS Nashville arrived with an official mission to protect
American citizens, thwarting any attempt by Colombia to send troops to Panama
by sea. The jungle prevented them from bringing military forces over a land
route, so they were unable to crush the Panamanian movement.
Thus it was the Republic of Panama
came into being on Nov. 3, 1903. The U.S. government obtained a treaty later
that year, under which the United States gained the right to build a canal
under essentially the same terms as had been offered to Colombia.
The United States began to move
forward in 1904. As laid down in the Act, it purchased Compagnie Nouvelle du
Canal de Panama’s assets for $40 million, taking over the project on May 4,
1904. An Isthmian Canal Commission was set up to govern the Canal Zone,
although overall supervision of construction was in the hands of the U.S.
Secretary of War. Expectations about the canal were plainly stated by
Roosevelt:
“What this nation will insist upon
is that results be achieved.”
The man who arrived in June 1904 to
take up the post of chief engineer was a civilian, John Findley Wallace.
A State of Chaos
Wallace discovered the project in a
state of chaos. While the French had constructed housing and other facilities
for the benefit of their workforce, many of these buildings were now
inhabitable. Their huge fleet of abandoned equipment — much of which was in
various stages of decay — had to be examined, repaired or rehabilitated if
possible, and then card-indexed for swift location as needed.
While most of the professional
workers were American, laborers were largely recruited from various Caribbean
countries, including Barbados, Guadeloupe and Martinique. Dozens of nations
were represented by the workforce, and interpreters were in demand. Beyond
skills more directly concerned with construction of the canal, many other
professions were represented, ranging from secretaries, accountants to shop
clerks and pharmacists, doctors and nurses.
William R. Scott spent five months
in Panama, three as an employee of the Isthmian Canal Commission. In l913 he
published “The Americans in Panama,” in which he mentions workers’ wages and
salaries. Hourly remuneration ranged from l0 to 25 cents an hour for
apprentices to 65 cents for bricklayers and up to the same amount for
carpenters, coppermiths, pipefitters and linesmen. Ironworkers and machinists
were paid as much as 70 cents an hour. A steam shovel operator earned between
$2l0 and $240 a month. While these rates appear small, they were far more than
would be paid for comparable work in the United States, and were in addition to
free housing and medical care at no cost.
Wiping Out Disease
One of the first major jobs the
Americans undertook was carrying out sanitary improvements to deal with the
high death toll from disease, most often malaria and yellow fever. At the time,
the discovery both illnesses were carried by mosquitoes was only beginning to
be accepted. The effort was led by Chief Sanitary Officer William C. Gorgas of
the U.S. Army. Even so, it was an uphill battle which ultimately involved
adding screens to doors and windows, fumigating dwellings, and laying oil
weekly on cesspools and cisterns to kill insect larvae.
In addition, the United States paved
streets and constructed water and sewage systems for Panama City and Colon.
Once this was done, the hitherto common use of barrels to store water for
domestic use was ended, thus removing thousands of potential mosquito breeding
grounds.
Rufus E. Forde contributed
recollections of working on the canal to the Isthmian Historical Society in
l963. Forde recalled that from a gang composed of approximately l25 workers, 40
or so would come down with malaria before noon. It was a sight so frightening,
he said, that “sometimes you don’t come back after dinner.”
Canal workers were instructed to
drink quinine to treat malaria, but its taste was so vile many claimed they had
taken theirs when they had not in fact done so, he added.
Wallace had not supported Gorgas’
efforts because he did not believe the diseases were transmitted by mosquito,
and while John F. Stevens, the chief engineer who replaced him, admitted to not
being entirely convinced as to the efficacy of Gorgas’ proposed eradication
program, he nonetheless supported it. Ira E. Bennett’s “History of the Panama
Canal” quoted Stevens’ opinion there were three diseases on the isthmus:
“Yellow fever, malaria, and cold
feet.”
Gorgas’ draconian measures succeeded
and it was announced in December 1905 that yellow fever had finally been
eradicated from the isthmus. However, malaria still caused many deaths among
workers because surviving it did not make the patient immune to further
attacks. Hospital records show that 5,609 people died from disease or accidents
during the American construction era, and 4,500 of them were black employees.
Once under control, stern measures
were taken to keep the isthmus disease-free. Quarantines were rigidly enforced and
inoculations mandatory. Scott’s book mentions an incident in 1905 when a number
of workers from Martinique initially refused to leave their ship because they
believed vaccination scars were intended to mark them so they could not go
home. He related that they were removed from their vessel at bayonet point and
then inoculated.
Facilities for the Workforce
Chief Engineer Wallace found the
going difficult. Despite all efforts, housing and food for the workers were not
of acceptable quality. He expressed anger about “red tape” constantly
interfering with the running of the project, and also was worried about his
family being stricken with disease, particularly after his secretary’s wife
died of yellow fever. There had been personality clashes with the chairman of
the commission and although the commission was dissolved and a new one set up,
Wallace, who had received an offer of a better paid job in the United States,
resigned a year after his arrival.
Another civilian, John F. Stevens,
took over as chief engineer in July 1905. He had excellent references, having
been in charge of the construction of the Great Northern Railroad in the
Pacific Northwest.
After Stevens’ arrival, the United
States used 12,000 of its workforce to construct buildings as well as carry out
excavation work. Between 1905 and 1907 clinics and hospitals, laundries,
libraries, mess halls, churches, hotels, social and fraternal clubs, and many
other amenities were built. Numerous workers had brought their wives and
families with them, and schools were provided. Fire departments, courts and
post offices came into being and shops sold household goods, canned items and
perishables kept in refrigerated storage.
Saturday night dances were held at
hotels and firework displays, lectures, and other types of entertainment
(including a circus on at least one occasion) also were available to the
workforce.
The Panama Record, published weekly,
provided news of sporting events and contests, social gatherings, and notices
of various sorts, as well as committee reports and official announcements.
Recreational facilities eventually
included bowling alleys, gyms, ice cream parlors, billiard rooms, tennis courts
and baseball parks. Contests involving various sports were held, with keen
competition between teams.
The immense logistical problems
involved in providing life’s necessities can be demonstrated by noting meals
for the workforce required the annual baking of more than 60,000 rolls and 6
million loaves, as well as approximately 110,000 lbs. of cake.
Improving a Vital Rail Link
Another task to be accomplished was
improving transportation. The Panama Railroad ran past the excavations but had
descended into a degraded state. Its efficient operation was vital to the job,
since there were no highways and the railroad had to move everything needed
from construction equipment and building materials to food, medical supplies,
and excavated material, not to mention the workforce itself.
The French company’s holdings
included a number of locomotives and wagons. Most were considered too
lightweight for the tasks they had to accomplish, although some were eventually
rehabilitated. The rail system was overhauled and more robust American rolling
stock suitable for handling the movement of heavy equipment and to haul excavated
material away from the diggings were shipped in. The workforce included
experienced American rail staff whose task was run the railroad — once it had
been built from components shipped to Panama in a dismantled state.
Make the Dirt Fly
Roosevelt had made it plain workers
were expected to “make the dirt fly,” but construction plans had to be flexible
in order to meet challenges as work continued. For example, the width of the
Culebra Cut was changed from 200 to 300 ft. (61 to 91 m) while after a request
from the U.S. Navy lock chambers were increased to 110 ft. (34 m) wide. This
was to ensure the canal would allow passage of vessels, which at the time were
still themselves in the design stages.
Landslides continued to be a
continual and often fatal occurrence. Exacerbated by the tropical rainy season,
they also destroyed equipment and buildings and filled in newly excavated
portions of the canal, which then had to be redug.
Accidents, of course, were
unavoidable. A number of people who had worked on the canal reminisced about
that aspect of the job at a gathering organized by the Isthmian Historical
Society in 1958.
Reed E. Hopkins, former railroad
conductor, recalled standing orders that if anyone was hurt, conductors had to
take them immediately to the hospital. It happened daily, since although
dynamite blasts were usually timed for 11:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., they were
sometimes set off without warning and flying debris took its toll.
Gertrude B. Hoffman, a teacher,
spoke about a premature blast at Bas Obispo, where the father of one of her
pupils took cover in the dipper of a steam shovel. The shovel ended up entirely
covered with chunks of rocks.
Charles F. Williams described seeing
a train in Colon Station, its luggage car marked funeral car and behind it a
coach for passengers being taken to hospital. Such cars were, he said, “regular
equipment on the Panama Railroad.”
Third Chief Engineer Arrives
Chief Engineer Stevens was
instrumental in persuading President Roosevelt and Congress that the canal
should be built with locks, rather than the proposed sea level waterway. In
strongly-worded evidence to the House Committee on Interstate and Foreign
Commerce, he declared the greatest problem in the construction of any canal
across the isthmus was going to be controlling the Chagres River — and equally
emphatic that a system of locks would solve it. In June l906 the final vote was
taken, and a lock canal was approved, albeit by a narrow margin.
However, Stevens resigned in 1907,
citing personal reasons. A third commission was set up to oversee the project.
It was composed mainly of military men and George Washington Goethals, then
holding the rank of major in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, became chief
engineer of the project. Being in an officer in the army, unlike the two
previous chief engineers he could not leave the project until permitted to go
elsewhere.
Goethals was not one to mince words.
Bennett’s book relates he addressed his workforce in the stirring fashion of an
army man.
“I am commanding the Army of Panama;
the enemy is Culebra Cut and the locks and the dams.”
Nor did he exaggerate. The Culebra
Cut is approximately 9 mi. (14.5 km) long and had to be dug through the
Continental Divide. When the Americans took over, the two French companies had
already excavated more than 78 million cu. yds. (60 million cu m) of which
approximately 18,600 cu. yds. (14,220 cu m) of material had been taken from the
Cut.
Ralph E. Avery described the French
excavators in his 1913 work “America’s Triumph” in Panama. They were the type
fitted with chains on buckets, which dropped spoil into hoppers which then
transferred it into dump cars. It was to be over a year before steam shovels
completely replaced these excavators.
Dynamite and Steampower
By today’s standards, the
construction of the canal was carried out by primitive methods, since it was
largely accomplished by laborers, dynamite and steam power.
Preparation for rock blasting was
carried out by drills run on compressed air piped from three plants some five
miles away from the work site. Operating in sets of up to a dozen, set between
6 and 16 ft. (2 and 5 m) apart, the drills cut down as deep as 27 ft. (8 m).
Steel hand drills also were used.
Bennett related that holes were originally fired with the use of batteries and
later by electrical current. He mentioned the largest single blast involved
setting off a number of holes which together contained 52,000 lbs. (23,587 kg)
of dynamite.
Goethals described the extensive use
of explosives in a talk given to the National Geographic Society in 1911. Apart from blasting, dynamite
also was used to break up rocks too large for the steam shovels to handle.
Goethals related that in those cases three or on occasion more sticks of
dynamite were laid on the rock, covered in mud, and set off by use of a slow
match. Most of the dynamite was used at the Culebra Cut.
Disposal of the massive amounts of
spoil involved was handled by trains pulling a score or so of Lidgerwood flat
cars, each capable of hauling approximately l9 cu. yds. (15 cu m) of material.
These cars were one-sided and steel plates joined each car into what amounted to
a continual surface, necessary for the method used to unload them.
This was accomplished by means of
attaching a car carrying a plow and another featuring an unloader at opposite
ends of the train. Unloaders had a steam-driven windlass around which a wrist-thick
steel cable was wound. Thus equipped, the train was driven under a frame to
which the cable was attached and as the train moved on, the cable paid out
until it reached, and could be attached to, the plow. Rewinding the cable
pulled the plow forward, pushing excavated material off the cars to the waiting
spreaders. The plow and unloader were detached and the empty train returned to
the diggings. This work also was handled with Western dump cars, which ran on
compressed air, and some unloading was done by hand.
As much of this excavated material
as possible was recycled for such purposes as constructing a 3-mi. (5 km) long
breakwater constructed as an anti-silting measure as well as building the Gatun
Dam, which tamed the Chagres River and created Gatun Lake. It also was used to
reclaim 500 acres (202 ha) of the Pacific. In addition, millions of cubic yards
of material was dumped into the jungle.
The disposed material often included
a large amount of rock and earth from landslides. In his lecture to the
National Geographic Society, Goethals stated in fiscal year 1908 alone
approximately 6 percent of the material removed was deposited by slides, while
two years later the proportion had risen to 18 percent.
The problem was finally resolved by
grading the slopes of the Cut to a less steep angle than had hitherto been
attempted.
Record Amounts of Excavation
Goethals’ arrival heralded the onset
of a period of record accomplishment. Bennett stated that despite the fact it
was the rainy season, in August 1907 a record 1 million cu. yds. (764,555 cu m)
was excavated, a figure doubled and then tripled during the following months.
The workforce kept up the pace and in two years had removed approximately 73
million cu. yds. (55.8 million cu m).
In 1907 the equipment fleet
increased to include 100 steam shovels, 560 drills, more than 50 cranes and 20
dredges. The annual consumption of fuel was approximately 500,000 barrels of
oil and 350,000 tons (317,515 t) of coal.
Numerous American companies sent
their equipment to Panama.
Among them, the Bucyrus Company of
South Milwaukee, Wis., manufactured the majority of the steam shovels used on
the job. Shovels also were supplied by the Marion Steam Shovel Company of
Marion, Ohio, and the Harry A. Lord Company of Allegheny, Pa.
The largest shovels were 95 ton (86
t) models with 5-cu.-yd. (4 cu m) dippers, and 45- and 70-ton (41 t and 64 t)
shovels also were used. In May 1912 a Marion model 9l steam shovel set a world
record by moving more than 5,550 cu. yds. (4,243 cu m) of material.
One or two of the steam shovels,
which worked on the canal have been traced. A Marion model 60 present in Panama
in l904 was reported fronting a museum at the University of Costa Rica. Another
canal-era Bucyrus steam shovel was borrowed from a private owner in Montana and
exhibited in “Let The Dirt Fly,” the 1999 Smithsonian Institution exhibition
devoted to the construction of the canal.
Harry A. Franck worked on the
project for several months in 1912, first as a census enumerator and
subsequently as a policeman. “Zone Policeman 88: A Close Range Study of the
Panama Canal and its Workers,” his lively memoir of the time he spent in the
Panama Zone, was one of the best selling books of 1913. He provided a colorful
picture of the work carried out by the steam shovels, describing their mammoth
strength coupled with the ability to work at delicate tasks such as picking up
a single railroad spike.
“They ate away the rocky hills,” he
wrote, “and cast them in great giant handfuls on the train of one-sided
flat-cars that moved forward bit by bit at the flourish of the conductor’s
yellow flag.”
Steam shovel crews consisted of a
craneman who perched on its arm and the engineer who operated the controls,
each shovel being accompanied by a gang of laborers. The latter came from many
nations and sometimes unexpected professions. Franck noted a Spanish laborer
killed at the Culebra Cut by a dynamite explosion was discovered to be a
celebrated lawyer in his home country.
Steam Shovel Work Honored
The sterling work of the steam
shovels is recalled in a bronze plaque commemorating Lieut. Col. David DuBose
Gaillard, who oversaw excavation at the Culebra Cut between the summers of 1908
and 1913, and after whom the Cut was subsequently renamed. The plaque shows two
laborers digging in the Cut, a pair of steam shovels in the background. It is
now displayed at the bottom of the steps in front of the Canal Administration
building in Balboa, close to the Goethals Memorial.
In addition, a stamp issued in 1951
depicted laborers from the West Indies working on the Culebra Cut, with a steam
shovel shown on the far left. Steam shovels and other equipment also can be
seen in murals decorating the rotunda of the Canal Administration’s building,
which record work at the Cut, the Gatun Dam, and the locks.
Steam shovels working on the canal
were mounted on cars running on rail lines, which were relocated as necessary
by track shifters invented by William G. Bierd, who previously held the post of
general manager of the Panama Railroad. With their aid, whole sections of
tracks could be quickly moved between approximately 2.5 and 9 ft. (.7 and 3 m)
in one “throw” when the task in hand required it.
Dredges and Hoists
Dredges working on the project
included a 20-in. (51 cm) hydraulic pipe line model, manufactured by the
Ellicott Machine Company of Baltimore, Md. It cost $158,000 and could excavate
750 cu. yds. (573 cu m) of material an hour.
Other dredging equipment was
supplied by the Haywood Company and Froment & Company, both based in New
York City, as well as the Atlantic Gulf & Pacific Company, also of New
York.
A. L. Ide & Son, based in
Springfield, Ill., supplied dredge engines, while centrifugal pumps were
provided by the Morris Machine Works of Baldwinsville, N.Y.
The equipment fleet also included
four rebuilt iron-hulled ladder dredges salvaged from the holdings of the
French company. The buckets of these dredges could move 15 cu. ft. (.4 cu m) of
material, working down to a 45 ft. (14 m) depth.
Equipment provided by the Brown
Hoisting Machinery Company of Cleveland, Ohio, handled heavier work, such as
unloading coal. Coaling cranes manufactured by Orton & Steinbrenner of
Chicago, Ill., also worked on the job, and another Cleveland manufacturer with
a similar name, the Browning Engineering Company, provided cranes.
Scott reported the cost of the canal
up to July 1912 was $260 million, including the $40 million used to purchase
the French company. By then construction and engineering had cost $152 million
and sanitary improvements $15 million. Bennett set the cost of excavating the
Calubra Cut alone at between $l0 million and $l5 million a mile.
Building the Locks
The construction of the canal’s
giant locks provided another snapshot of just one part of the huge task facing
the builders.
Some notion of the vast size of
these locks is indicated by the numbers: the walls bisecting the locks into two
chambers are themselves 60 ft. (18 m) wide. The thickness of side walls ranges
between 45 to 50 ft. (12 and 15 m) on the lock floor, and the culverts, which carry
water to the locks have a diameter of 18 ft. (5.5 m).
During the construction of the Gatun
Locks, concrete was delivered by a new method involving a circular electric
railroad.
Steel cars divided into two
compartments (one for premeasured amounts of sand and stone and the other for
cement) were loaded and sent to eight concrete mixers, each with a 64 cu. ft.
(1.8 cu m) capacity. Once mixed, concrete was loaded into rail cars and
rerouted to 85 ft. (26 m) high Lidgerwood cableways spanning the locks. Full
buckets were caught up and carried across the lock for placement as necessary,
while the empty buckets for which they were exchanged were already returning to
be refilled with material for the concrete mixers so the cycle could begin
again.
At Pedro Miguel and Miraflores on
the Pacific end of the canal a similar system for mixing and placing concrete
was operated with the aid of cranes and steam locomotives Lt. Col. Harry F.
Hodges was in charge of the design and erection of the lock gates. McClintic-Marshall
Construction Company, of Pittsburgh, Pa., was awarded the contract for this
part of the job. Ranging in height from 47 to 82 ft. (14 to 25 m), the gates
are 7 ft. (2 m) thick, and comprise two leaves over 60 ft. (18 m) wide,
weighing between 390 and 730 tons (354 and 662 t) apiece.
Franck’s book provides a glimpse of
the construction of the Gatun Locks. Describing its steel gates, which he saw
standing ajar, as akin to “an opening in the Great Wall of China.” He goes on
to say, “On them resounded the roar of the compressed-air riveters and all the
way up the sheer faces, growing smaller and smaller as they neared the sky,
were McClintic-Marshall men driving into place red-hot rivets,” tossed up to
them from workers at the forges, their trajectory “glaring like comets’ tails
against the twilight void.”
Ships are not permitted to pass
through the locks under their own power. General Electric in Schenectady, N.Y.,
provided “mules,” as the electric locomotives, which pull vessels through the
locks are known.
A Greater Work Than They Realized
The importance of the canal was
highlighted in November 1906 when Theodore Roosevelt visited Panama to inspect
progress on the job, the first time a sitting president had left the country.
In a speech to the workforce at
Colon, after complimenting the “steam-shovel man” as “the American who is
setting the mark for the rest of you to live up to.” Roosevelt went on, “This
is one of the great works of the world; it is a greater work than you,
yourselves, at the moment realize.”
In his speech, Roosevelt promised to
see if he could arrange for “some little memorial, some mark, some badge, which
will always distinguish the man who did his work well on the Isthmus,” and
indeed this came to pass. Medals struck from scrap metal taken from abandoned
French equipment were issued to Americans who had worked for two years on
either construction or the railroad. Bars marking each subsequent two year
period of service on the project were issued thereafter.
The distribution of 50,000 bronze
Panama Canal Completion Medals marked the opening of the s-shaped 51-mi. (82
km) long waterway on Aug. 15 1914.
When the United States took over
building the canal — and for some time afterwards — naysayers said such a
waterway could never be built. Yet in only 10 years persistence, grit, and
technical knowledge, aided by an army of laborers and heavy equipment, saw the
job through to completion.
CEG
No comments:
Post a Comment